Growing Up, Growing Away
Beyond some half-forgotten memories, Spike the Dragon has lived with Twilight Sparkle for as long as he can recall. Distant memories of play freely intermingle with the drudgery of a hard day's work. What's a self-motivated adolescent to do when today looks just like yesterday and tomorrow doesn't plan on changing?
Maybe, somewhere underneath the scales and above the wild magic, Spike can figure out who he is, more than just being a baby dragon.
But unless he takes tomorrow in claw, it won't be any different and he'll still just be Spike.
-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.
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A young dragon, purple of scale and frilled with green, settled himself as best he could upon a seat that was too long, too wide and much too deep.
Eyes of emerald gazed without sight as trees flickered by as the train carried him and what little he called his own to a distant locale to the east.
Fear gripped his heart while trepidation filled his mind. Regret hung like a miasma through his thoughts, held at bay only by the steel of his resolve and the self-consuming flame of need.
His listless gaze drifted to the emptiness of his cabin.
Even as the train inexorably ran to its destination, the drake wasn't certain of his own. He didn't know what he needed.
Food, certainly. Shelter would be nice as well.
No, this flight, this journy was to feed a rather different maw. To satisfy a rather strange hunger.
The youth needed to know, beyond his own doubt, beyond his own dreams and fantasies. He needed to know that how he'd been living, if what he knew and that which made it was truly how he intended to spend the countless days before him.
Perspective, in a way.
It's a small word for what he was looking for. He didn't really know how to find it, though he knew what it was. Always had he lived as a dragon, though rarely had he understood what it meant. Fairly, he assumed a dragon he would always be, though the trappings of a wyrms claim he hardly knew.
How does one describe the scent of lillies on the wind, or the sound of a brook babbling over flat stone upon a shallow in a river?
How would one of reptillian visage explain a desire to have fur? A wish to see a feast in a field of daisies instead of soothing beauty? To know beyond any shadow of doubt his true talents, the purpose for which he was born? Instead... Instead of being hatched?
Idly the young dragon shook his head, dispelling the iridescence in his gaze, the shadows from his thoughts.
A claw ran across the top of a suitcase nearby. Truthfully, it was the only other thing in the cabin beside himself. The presence of which did nothing to calm the turmoil of his mind, though it bolstered the steel within his heart.
He wasn't walking into the dragon's den (A corner of his mind giggled at the irony of the statement) empty-clawed at least.
A hoof rapped harshly upon the window to his cabin, the shadow of a conductors hat bobbing behind the curtain.
"Half an hour to Baltimare! Everypony get their things together, all children under hoof! Wouldn't want anypony getting left behind now!" The shadow ducked out of sight, repeating itself to every closed door and open family upon the few cars of the train.
The dragon locked his gaze upon the window. Emerald eyes met emerald eyes.
"Lookin' good, Spike. Real good, you got this!" The sharp grin that responded was brittle.
No, he really didn't.
----
I've seen a lot of this sort of story. Usually it involves bashing or something along those lines. My intention here is to try and explore Spike trying to discover himself and step out of being just an assistant. Just a side character.
Beyond some half-forgotten memories, Spike the Dragon has lived with Twilight Sparkle for as long as he can recall. Distant memories of play freely intermingle with the drudgery of a hard day's work. What's a self-motivated adolescent to do when today looks just like yesterday and tomorrow doesn't plan on changing?
Maybe, somewhere underneath the scales and above the wild magic, Spike can figure out who he is, more than just being a baby dragon.
But unless he takes tomorrow in claw, it won't be any different and he'll still just be Spike.
-Disclaimer: Hasbro owns all recognizable characters, most unrecognizable characters, and no, I'm not profiting off of this.
-----
A young dragon, purple of scale and frilled with green, settled himself as best he could upon a seat that was too long, too wide and much too deep.
Eyes of emerald gazed without sight as trees flickered by as the train carried him and what little he called his own to a distant locale to the east.
Fear gripped his heart while trepidation filled his mind. Regret hung like a miasma through his thoughts, held at bay only by the steel of his resolve and the self-consuming flame of need.
His listless gaze drifted to the emptiness of his cabin.
Even as the train inexorably ran to its destination, the drake wasn't certain of his own. He didn't know what he needed.
Food, certainly. Shelter would be nice as well.
No, this flight, this journy was to feed a rather different maw. To satisfy a rather strange hunger.
The youth needed to know, beyond his own doubt, beyond his own dreams and fantasies. He needed to know that how he'd been living, if what he knew and that which made it was truly how he intended to spend the countless days before him.
Perspective, in a way.
It's a small word for what he was looking for. He didn't really know how to find it, though he knew what it was. Always had he lived as a dragon, though rarely had he understood what it meant. Fairly, he assumed a dragon he would always be, though the trappings of a wyrms claim he hardly knew.
How does one describe the scent of lillies on the wind, or the sound of a brook babbling over flat stone upon a shallow in a river?
How would one of reptillian visage explain a desire to have fur? A wish to see a feast in a field of daisies instead of soothing beauty? To know beyond any shadow of doubt his true talents, the purpose for which he was born? Instead... Instead of being hatched?
Idly the young dragon shook his head, dispelling the iridescence in his gaze, the shadows from his thoughts.
A claw ran across the top of a suitcase nearby. Truthfully, it was the only other thing in the cabin beside himself. The presence of which did nothing to calm the turmoil of his mind, though it bolstered the steel within his heart.
He wasn't walking into the dragon's den (A corner of his mind giggled at the irony of the statement) empty-clawed at least.
A hoof rapped harshly upon the window to his cabin, the shadow of a conductors hat bobbing behind the curtain.
"Half an hour to Baltimare! Everypony get their things together, all children under hoof! Wouldn't want anypony getting left behind now!" The shadow ducked out of sight, repeating itself to every closed door and open family upon the few cars of the train.
The dragon locked his gaze upon the window. Emerald eyes met emerald eyes.
"Lookin' good, Spike. Real good, you got this!" The sharp grin that responded was brittle.
No, he really didn't.
----
I've seen a lot of this sort of story. Usually it involves bashing or something along those lines. My intention here is to try and explore Spike trying to discover himself and step out of being just an assistant. Just a side character.